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The hesitant emergence of maximum sustainable yield (MSY) in fisheries policies in Europe

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  • Mesnil, Benoit

Abstract

The dismal record of fisheries management worldwide is often blamed on managers' and scientists' bigoted pursuit of the flawed Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) objective. This paper aims at clarifying that MSY has never been a key element in the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), and has not been for several decades the basis of scientific advice provided in support of that policy. The recent emergence of MSY in debates about the CFP might be a rhetoric response to international pressure rather than a willing change in policy. The major danger of assigning the notorious failure of the CFP to a wrong culprit, MSY, is to distract research efforts away from investigating the real causes that likely lay in the institutional set-up. Many objections against the reference points associated with MSY, as targets or limits, are well-founded but controversies among experts, when left unbridled, just provide the opportune climate for politicians to delay actions in the direction of reduced fishing impacts on fish stocks and marine ecosystems.

Suggested Citation

  • Mesnil, Benoit, 2012. "The hesitant emergence of maximum sustainable yield (MSY) in fisheries policies in Europe," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 473-480.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:marpol:v:36:y:2012:i:2:p:473-480
    DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2011.08.006
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Christian Mullon & Charles Mullon, 2016. "A constraint-based framework to study rationality, competition and cooperation in fisheries," Papers 1605.08166, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2017.
    2. Bailey, Jennifer, 2016. "Adventures in cross-disciplinary studies: Grand strategy and fisheries management," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 18-27.
    3. Freire-Gibb, Lucio Carlos & Koss, Rebecca & Margonski, Piotr & Papadopoulou, Nadia, 2014. "Governance strengths and weaknesses to implement the marine strategy framework directive in European waters," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 172-178.
    4. Patrick, Wesley S. & Link, Jason S., 2015. "Hidden in plain sight: Using optimum yield as a policy framework to operationalize ecosystem-based fisheries management," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 74-81.
    5. Ricouard, Antoine & Lehuta, Sigrid & Mahévas, Stéphanie, 2023. "Are maximum yields sustainable? Effect of intra-annual time-scales on MSY, stability and resilience," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 479(C).
    6. Benoit, David M. & Giacomini, Henrique C. & Chu, Cindy & Jackson, Donald A., 2021. "Identifying influential parameters of a multi-species fish size spectrum model for a northern temperate lake through sensitivity analyses," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 460(C).
    7. Salomon, Markus & Markus, Till & Dross, Miriam, 2014. "Masterstroke or paper tiger – The reform of the EU׳s Common Fisheries Policy," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 76-84.
    8. Mark T. Gibbs, 2016. "Applying the concept of State of Good Repair to the management of ecological infrastructure," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(6), pages 1091-1106, June.

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